Canberrans can a get a peek at the city's future light rail green tracks at the National Arboretum following the completion of a new prototype made from grass and plants.
The future tracks will sit in low-lying vegetation instead of concrete, which will help combat urban heat, reduce glare and noise from the light rail and absorb more rainwater, Transport Minister Chris Steel said.
The prototype at the Arboretum will show what the track will look like but it will also be used to test what plants will be appropriate to plant as part of the green track but there will be no trams running along the prototype.
It will test different turf mixes, grasses and irrigation.
"We won't be having a rolling stock on this prototype green track. What this prototype will test is the variety of different low lying plants," Mr Steel said.
"Canberra is notoriously a very difficult place to plant anything because of the soil conditions and quite unique weather here. It's cold in the winter and very hot in the summer so we want to make sure the final outcome is thoroughly tested to minimise the risk of the project not delivering a high quality outcome."
The completed prototype will guide the final design, construction and maintenance of the green track that will form part of light rail stage 2A, which will run from the city to Commonwealth Park.
There will be three sections of green track. One section will be planted along Northbourne Avenue, another on Commonwealth Avenue and another on London Circuit in front of the Melbourne Building.
The greenery there will mirror the median in front of the Sydney Building to ensure symmetry around the two heritage buildings is maintained.
"This is an area where there's currently a park in the median strip in between the Sydney and Melbourne Buildings," Mr Steel said.
"We don't want people to walk across this area when there are tracks to make sure they're safe around light rail vehicles and so the low lying shrub cover will indicate that it's not a place to be walking but it will be an attractive place for people to look at."
The plants will be tested at the Arboretum over the next year but the display is expected to remain after this.
The City to Commonwealth Park alignment is expected to start running in 2028, more than 8.5 years after the first stage opened between Gungahlin and the city.
